


Atmosphere Around Me

by cosmic_llin



Category: Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: F/F, Female Friendship, First Meetings, Gen, Post-Canon, Pre-Femslash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-19
Updated: 2015-08-19
Packaged: 2018-04-15 13:46:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4608996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cosmic_llin/pseuds/cosmic_llin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>B'Elanna Torres meets Beverly Crusher at a conference.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Atmosphere Around Me

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sophiagratia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sophiagratia/gifts).



> This went somewhere different than I was expecting so I didn't have a chance to get to the turbolift sex and whatever. Next time. ;D

The first time B’Elanna Torres saw Beverly Crusher, she was giving a presentation about the use of holography as a training tool for medical students, at a conference on Earth.

She reminded B’Elanna of Captain Janeway – her red hair, her quick movements, expansive gestures, the almost theatrical way she had with her audience. It was a little mesmerising to watch. A little uncanny. And a little comforting, if B’Elanna was honest.

She still didn’t quite have the hang of it, being back in the Federation again after all this time. She missed the routine of Voyager, the safety of knowing what was expected of her and what she was capable of. She missed being the chief engineer of a ship she knew as well and as intimately as she knew her own body.

She hadn’t especially wanted to come to this conference, but they’d invited her to talk about the Doctor’s program, and she had a lot to say on the subject. So she’d come, felt awkward and out of place, and skipped half the sessions out of a desire not to be constantly recognised.

So it was comforting to pretend, if only for a little while, that things were back to normal.

 * * *

 The first time Beverly Crusher saw B’Elanna Torres, she heard her before she saw her, because she was yelling. Beverly rushed to see what the commotion was, and found herself looking at a small, angry Klingon woman, who had seemingly cornered a much larger man with the sheer force of her rage. He – Beverly vaguely recognised him as one of the holographic engineers she’d briefly met at the opening reception – was scowling, but he couldn’t get past the wall of sound to reply.

‘… and if I ever, _ever_ hear you talk that way again…’ the woman said, then tailed off suddenly, breathing hard, staring at him.

Beverly watched as she noticed the audience that was gathering, heard the murmurs of disapproval. Beverly almost felt the effort as the woman stepped back, tried to lower her shoulders, then her hands. She gave the engineer one last disgusted look, then turned and stalked away.

‘Unbelievable!’ muttered the engineer.

A concerned crowd gathered around him. Beverly stood for a moment, hesitating, and followed the woman.

She found her just around the next corner catching her breath, her back against the wall. She jumped when she saw Beverly coming.

‘It’s all right,’ said Beverly. ‘I just wanted to see if you were ok.’

The woman sighed. ‘Oh, I’m fine. I’m just glad I managed to stop myself before I broke his nose. Or maybe I’m not. I’m not sure I know.’

Beverly grinned.

‘You’re Lieutenant Commander Torres, aren’t you?’ she said. ‘I recognise you from the newscasts when Voyager got back…’

Torres groaned. ‘Yes, that’s me. And you can bet this little incident will make the newscasts too. Here I go, bringing Voyager’s name into disrepute again…’

Beverly smiled sympathetically at her.

‘Could you use a drink?’ she asked.

* * *

Beverly Crusher wasn’t that much like Kathryn Janeway after all, B’Elanna had begun to realise. The Beverly (‘please, call me Beverly’, she’d insisted warmly) who got up on a stage and talked to a room full of experts was not the same Beverly she was meeting now. She was more earnest, more contained.

‘So, what was the argument about?’ she’d asked, as they sat down.

‘He insulted a friend of mine,’ B’Elanna had said, tersely.

‘Go on.’

So B’Elanna had explained about how the engineer had made disparaging remarks about Voyager’s EMH and his determination to be recognised as a person under Federation law.

‘He said something about a “jumped-up tricorder” and I just saw red,’ she’d said. ‘Who is he to say that? He thinks because he took some classes, programmed a couple of holonovels, he gets to decide who’s sentient and who isn’t? I’m not saying the Doctor’s a perfect person, but he _is_ a person!’

And that was when she’d realised she was yelling again.

‘I’m sorry,’ she’d sighed. ‘It’s just… it matters to me, and I guess it still shocks me a little that it doesn’t matter to everyone.’

‘I know what you mean,’ Beverly had said evenly. ‘You know I served with Commander Data for several years, on the Enterprise?’

And they’d compared notes about having an artificial lifeform for a friend, and they’d ordered more drinks, and now they were talking about the Enterprise herself.

‘I’d love to get a look in that engine room,’ said B’Elanna. ‘I was reading the technical manuals the other day - it’s such an elegant design.’

‘Well, let me know if you’re ever in the area and I’ll have Geordi give you a tour,’ said Beverly. ‘What ship are you on right now? I hear Voyager’s not heading out again anytime soon?’

B’Elanna shook her head. ‘No, they’re still crawling around her, critiquing all of my modifications. They’re not even sure when she’ll be back on assignment. I’m… I’m nowhere, at the moment. Honestly I don’t know where I want to go next.’

‘Afraid nothing will measure up?’ Beverly asked.

‘More like… not sure I’m suited to life in Starfleet if it’s not on Voyager. Maybe it’s time for a change of direction. I mean, look at me - I still can’t control my temper.’

‘Maybe other people just shouldn’t be so rude,’ said Beverly, with a little half-smile.

B’Elanna frowned. ‘Are you teasing me?’

‘Not at all. Honestly… I think some people in Starfleet need that now. Since the war - well, some people would like everything to just go right back to the way it was, even the things that weren’t right to begin with. But there are still things to fight for.’

B’Elanna looked at her curiously. She sensed Beverly had more to say, but she just took a sip of her drink and smiled.

A chime rang to mark the hour.

‘Oh God, is that really the time?’ B’Elanna asked. ‘I’m giving my presentation first thing tomorrow morning!’

Beverly waved a dismissive hand. ‘You’ll be fine. Replicate some coffee. Come on, I’ll walk you back to your room.’

They walked back together through the cool silence of the late night, and B’Elanna thought, yes, maybe she’d missed this - earth under her feet, a breeze in her hair. Someone to talk to who didn’t already know everything about her, who didn’t remember how young and frightened she had once been.

‘Well… goodnight,’ said Beverly, when they reached B’Elanna’s door.

She reached and squeezed B’Elanna’s hand before turning away. B’Elanna stood there for a few moments after she left, just breathing in the air.

* * *

The next morning, armed with a raktajino, she arrived for her presentation. Beverly was sitting in the front row. She smiled encouragingly at B’Elanna.

B’Elanna hadn’t had much practice at public speaking, but she pretended that she was just briefing her staff, and she gripped the lectern so that they didn’t see her hands shaking, and it seemed to go fine.

Then there were the questions.

The first time someone called the Doctor ‘it’, she twitched, recovered, and emphasised the word ‘he’ in her reply. The second time, she just barely managed to ignore it.

The third time, she dug her nails into the lectern, swallowed, couldn’t think of a way to phrase her answer in anything less than a string of expletives. She looked up, and Beverly Crusher winked at her.

B’Elanna let loose.


End file.
